Trump's tax plan aims to help middle-class Americans

Treasury Department assistant secretary of public affairs Tony Sayegh on what the Trump tax reform plan may look like and how it could help the middle-class.

The final push for a comprehensive tax reform is underway in Congress, with President Donald Trump stumping for lower taxes for both corporations and the middle class.

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In addition to lower tax rates, the administration hopes to increase the standard deduction -- meaning that some of the first money a married couple files jointly will not be taxed -- and simplify taxes so that most middle income families can fill out taxes on one page, Treasury Department assistant secretary of public affairs Tony Sayegh told FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs on “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

“And we’re going to because of what we’re doing on the business side by reducing those terribly high, uncompetitive rates,” he said.

In some ways, the Trump administration is positioning the tax reform plan as a way to bring jobs back to the U.S., Sayegh said. By lowering the rate -- which is currently 35% -- to 15%, Trump has said he hopes to compete with countries like China and India that have a similar corporate tax rate.

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How the government can afford to do that remains be seen. Additional details of the framework will not be released until the week of Sept. 25. At a bipartisan meeting at the White House on Wednesday, the president said the wealthy would “not be gaining at all” from his plan and could even face higher taxes.

“There is something that is absolutely certain,” Sayegh said. “And that’s the middle-income hard-working family is the focus of the president’s agenda when it comes to the individual side of tax cuts.”